


Jay Watching

by HomuraBakura



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Birdwatching, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 19:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8221970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura
Summary: Ruri is absolutely POSITIVE that she'll be able to find that rare jay here, and she drags Yuto along to help.





	

“Yuto, Yuto, Yuto, hurry up, hurry up!!”

The squeal in the back of Ruri's voice indicated that she had probably located that rare bird they were looking for—or at least, she thought she had, like the last four times she had shouted at him to keep up.

Panting, Yuto, jogged off the path, following Ruri's voice through the thick shrubs. He had to smack branches out of his face, and his jacket kept getting caught on bushes, making him have to stop every two minutes to unhook himself from thorns.

The branches cleared with a snap and he yelped, almost falling forward without the trees to push against. He managed to catch himself though, scrabbling back on his feet to compensate. The ground here was suddenly rocky and more than a little slippery—he could hear a river's trickle now that the crash of foliage wasn't ringing in his ears anymore.

When he lifted his eyes, he saw Ruri at the edge of the river, flapping her hands at her sides and walking back and forth in front of the river, her neck craned back to look across the river at the tree cover on the other side. Her camera was bouncing a bit against her chest and he wondered if maybe he should remind her that it was there so that it wouldn't break.

“Oh no, no, no,” she moaned, still flapping her hands as though she were going to lift off and fly across. “It—it went that way, I know it this time, I saw the blue flash, it must have been a Lidth's Jay!”

Yuto couldn't help but smile slightly—when he had first met her, he could have never expected her to be able to get so agitated. She had always seemed so quiet and sweet, shy, even. Now, here she was, flustered and her face red with agitation, her hair coming out of its normal bun from getting caught in branches as she bounded around the woods like an excited deer. She didn't even seem to notice that her skirt and leggings were stained with bits of mud splatters and grass stains.

“We can go around, there's a bridge a little way that way, remember?” Yuto said as he caught up to her. “It can't have gone far, right?”

“But what if it did?? I know I saw it this time, I have to get up closer—ah!!”

Her eyes lit up. Yuto followed her gaze—oh!

Across the river, sitting on a branch, a large bird sat on a branch overhanging the river. It was big, about the size of a crow, a beautiful brownish fuzz layering its torso. Its head and wings, however, were a brilliant azure blue. It lowered its head under its wing to preen at itself, the branch dipping slightly with its weight.

Immediately, Ruri grabbed the camera off her chest and snapped it to her face. Yuto heard the rapid fire click-click-click as she pressed the button down several times in a row. She stepped forward, her feet edging into the water of the river as she tried to get closer. Yuto grabbed her before she stepped off.

“Ruri, careful, you don't know how deep it is...”

“I have to get a little closer, just a little bit!” Ruri said. “Hang on...”

“You have to be looking where you're going if you're going to walk into the river, not at the bird—hang on a second, okay?”

Ruri yelped a bit as he got his arms under her, lifting her up. Either she was a lot lighter than he had expected, or his and Shun's work out routine was paying off, because he didn't have a problem lifting her into his arms. Ruri grabbed his shoulders for support, her eyes wide with surprise.

“What are you—”

“I'll try to hold you steady,” he said. “You just focus on the jay, okay?”

Ruri stared at him for a moment. Then her eyes sparkled, and she nodded brightly. Her attention was dragged away by the jay again, and she continued to click photo after photo.

Yuto carefully edged into the water, testing the depth. His boots were tall enough this time, thank goodness—Ruri and Shun _both_ had dragged him on far too many nature expeditions for him not to know better.

The water lapped around his ankles, but it looked like the river wasn't too deep at all. He could still hear Ruri's clicking, and he tried his best to hold her steady even though his arms were starting to protest now.

“Ah! It flew away!”

They were already at the other side of the river at this point, so Yuto gratefully lowered Ruri back to her own feet. Ruri blew out all her air at once, her eyes shining as she let her camera fall back against her chest.

“That was amazing!! That's the closest I've ever been—thank you, thank you, Yuto!”

And then she threw her arms around his shoulders and he almost fell over.

“Augh! Ruri, your camera—”

Ruri jumped a little, as though remembering. She pulled back for a second, moving the camera out of the way. Then she went right back to hugging him so tightly that he couldn't breathe for a second.

“I said I'd help you get a picture, right?” he said, feeling his cheeks get warm. “It's no big deal...”

“No, but you're way more helpful than you had to be—I dragged you all the way out here for my silly bird watching...”

“It's not silly,” Yuto said, putting his hands on her shoulders back, squeezing lightly. “I mean, you always smile really pretty when you see a bird and—”

He stopped as he realized what he was saying and he felt heat explode over his cheeks. Ruri pulled back a little, and he wondered if he had embarrassed her or—

But no, she was smiling even brighter and bigger than before.

“You're the sweetest,” she said with a laugh. “Thank you, so much, Yuto. I'm so glad you came with me.”

Yuto smiled through his blush, feeling the warmth of her arms around him.

“I'm glad I came too,” he said.

“Ah! I know—let's take a picture together!!”

She fumbled with the camera at her chest for a moment, sliding one arm over Yuto's shoulder to pull him in close next to her. Yuto tried to fight down the flush at being so close to Ruri so that it wouldn't show up in the picture, but it was probably a lost cause.

“Say cheese!” Ruri said, holding the camera over their heads.

Yuto was positive that at that moment, his smile was as bright as hers.

When he saw the photo later, he confirmed that.

And he also found that, just behind them, the jay was over their heads, head cocked at them curiously. Like a good luck charm watching over them.

 

 


End file.
